County councillors

Cllr Elsie Forrester (Parish Council representative for Chester-le-Street and District Area)

Our forum

The forum meets twice a year and is open to local people, businesses and organisations. It sets the AAP's priorities which it seeks to address through its projects and monitors the progress of these.

Forum members

Get involved with your local community!

Forum members can share their opinions and ideas with the AAP team and take part in task and finish groups to help achieve the priorities. Please contact us for the latest meeting dates and let us know beforehand if you'd like to attend so that we can make sure there's enough paperwork and seating available.

Joining the AAP

Get involved with your local community!

If you would like to have a say and influence decisions that affect your area join your local AAP. As a local forum member you'll be invited to meetings and events to discuss community issues.

Our priorities

Task and finish groups meet on a regular basis to discuss relevant issues and develop projects to address the AAP's priorities. Each task group is made up of forum members, board members, and representatives of those organisations whose co-operation is needed to get the job done.

Thriving Chester-le-Street: Focusing on Town Centre Development and Employment

This group looks at the development of the town centre and employment.

Meeting dates

Meeting notes

Chester-le-Street Destination Plan

The Destination Plan for Chester-le-Street sets out agreed common priorities for developing and promoting Chester-le-Street as a visitor destination. Our task force has worked with local people, partners, businesses and other organisations to develop the document. The Destination Plan was produced by Alison Caffyn, research consultant, who was commissioned using joint funding from the AAP and Durham County Council.

We hope this document and action plan will help drive improvements in the town and the surrounding area in order to attract more visitors to enjoy what we have here in Chester-le-Street and help contribute to the economic wellbeing of our area.

A leadership group will champion these improvements (actions and key projects are outlined in the summary and main document below).

Meeting dates

Meeting notes

This group looks at neighbourhood issues including environment, crime and community safety.

The task group has consulted with community groups, resident groups and parish councils to identify where people were most concerned about what is being done to combat environmental issues. Dog fouling and waste were two key areas of concern. Projects to tackle these issues have been developed, such as the council's Green Dog Walkers pledge which has resulted in an increase in people in the area signing up to the scheme. In addition, several metric tonnes of waste has been removed from estates in Grange Villa, Fencehouses and Sacriston as part of a 'Grot Spot' project.